Creativity in early childhood education: Teachers' perceptions in three Chinese societies

Recent emphasis on the development of creativity in Chinese students across various educational levels is highlighted in various Chinese societies, including Shanghai, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. Early childhood educators as important gatekeepers of fostering creative development in young children were invited to give their professional opinion on the influence of these variables. A total of 877 early childhood educators (233 from Hong Kong, 262 from Shanghai, and 382 from Taiwan) took part in the study by completing a questionnaire on perception of promoting creative education in early childhood settings. The ecology of creative teaching was strongly associated with the ecology of creative learning. Significant main effects were found in the influential factors of creativity, ecological factors of creative teaching, ecological factors of creative learning, improvement for creativity as well as barriers of creativity among teachers of the three societies. Veteran teachers scored significantly higher in ecology of creative teaching as well as in ecology of creative learning than teachers in mid-career and novice teachers. No significant interaction of society and teaching experience was obtained. Implications and challenges faced by these three groups of teachers and limitations of the study are also discussed. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.